Raven Cry

レイブンクライ

This journal is the rightful property of:

Akira Sasaki

アキラ 佐々木

Born 1981, December 4th

November 11th, 1998. 6:34 pm.

Today was a bore. There's nothing much to do around home—I've probably read all of my books at least two times over, and the TV's busted, so I can't watch anything. Plus, it's been snowing a lot recently (20 centimeters today!) and the ground is all slushy and icy, making it a real pain to try and walk anywhere. I very nearly broke my foot yesterday as I went to get the mail from the bottom of the drive. Not making that mistake today—I'm quite happy with staying indoors and not breaking any bones, thank you very much!

Dad's out buying groceries at the moment, so I'm home all alone (with Mum being on her business trip and all, in Hawaii). I wish I could've gone. I wouldn't even mind the heat if I could just have something fun to do again. Plus, it would be a very good place for some inspiration—I've had writer's-block for such a long time! It's driving me crazy. That's why I dug this old thing out. It's about time I started writing in it again, and with things being so amazingly boring around here, I thought, hey, why not? I have all the time in the world, anyway. It's not like there's anything else for me to do. Besides eating or sleeping or reading my books for the one-hundredth time, that is.

So…ha, what else is there? There's nothing else to say, really. That's it for today, then, I guess?

I'll write more next time.

November 12th, 1998. 2:33 pm.

Hey, it's me! Yeah, I'm not going anywhere.

Nothing really happened since the last entry, though. Dad got home at around 9:00 yesterday from work and told me to go to bed, but I just went into my room and played on my computer all quiet-like. I didn't look at the clock but I probably only got to sleep at around 1:00 am. I don't usually stay up that late, mind you—I was just so absorbed by my new computer game! (Dad had got if for me as an early birthday last week and I've been hooked ever since). Boy is it difficult. I've died about twenty times—and I'm not even finished the first stage yet! It's super fun, though. It's all about puzzles and traps and junk. Plus you've got to watch out for these shadow creatures all the time (they're kinda freaky, too). They'll kill you in about a second if you let them—but I've got a laser gun on my side. They'll know whose boss soon.

It's still snowing like crazy outside, as always. There was even a snowstorm warning on the radio today. I hope it isn't too bad. I'll have to remember to close all of the windows and doors so that the house stays all nice and toasty. Dad says he's got to work late today, so he might not be able to come home if the roads are too bad. But that's OK. More hot-chocolate for me tonight! Woo-hoo! (Dad says I eat too much sugar, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him).

I'm going to take a break and play on the computer. I might even be able to make it to the second level by 4:00!

November 13th, 1998. 3:57 am.

I know it's a bit late to write but I needed something to do. I had just gotten past the third level on my game when my computer crashed! I hope my progress has been saved. The lights are all out, too. I think the storm must've caused a power-outage. Maybe a power line has been cut somewhere?

The storm's really picking up outside. There's huge heaps of snow everywhere you look. I can hardly see out of the ground-floor windows because of all the snow piling up outside! Not to mention how dark it is (duh, it's the middle of the night. What I meant was there's no moon to see. I think the clouds are covering it). I dug around in my closet and found a torch, though, so I can at least wander around my house without tripping like a complete moron. I can't get to sleep either. The wind's too goddamn loud…It's like the whole house is shaking.

I hope Dad's OK. He said he wouldn't drive home if the weather's bad—and it's pretty bad, definitely—so he's probably staying over at a co-worker's house for the night. He wouldn't be able to call, either, since the phone lines are out, too. I'm used to being alone in the house, sure—but it can get mighty creepy at times, especially when the weather's as messed up as it is now.

I guess I'll just try to get some sleep. It's going to be hard to block the wind out, though. Oh well.

November 13th, 1998. 4:25 am.

I had a bad sleep, if it could even be called that. I barely got any more than 20 or 30 minutes of solid sleep, tops. I feel mighty crappy now, not to mention how much this bad weather's annoying the hell out of me. I wish Dad could have come back from work early so that at least I could have had someone to talk to. Even someone sleeping on the complete other side of the house would've made me feel better; at least I wouldn't have been alone.

I've never thought too much about how much I actually depend on other people to make me feel okay. I mean, I never thought that being alone would bother me as much as this—but now when it's all dark and the power's not on there's nothing to distract me from it, you know? No TV, no computer, no-one to talk to. It's just me and my thoughts here, and those aren't too great at this time. Right now I'm sitting on the living room couch (which probably added to my discomfort because it's kind of lumpy. There was no way I was sleeping in my room with the wind being as loud as it is).

I'm watching the snow fall outside through the window and it's so thick. I can hardly see our yard anymore…it's all just this great big mass of grey with some dark splotches thrown in here and there. Man, if I was to walk outside right now (although I think opening the door is 1) a very dumb idea and 2) probably impossible because the snow would be holding it shut), it would be like living in a giant snow globe that some kid had just shaken up really hard. An infinite one which was super cold and had ridiculously loud wind in it, to be more precise. Now THAT'S what the word "Hell" should mean. I really hope Dad's alright.

November 13th, 1998. 4:51 am.

I think something just fell outside. It was hard to hear over the awful wind but I thought I heard a big cracking noise, like when a branch falls off a tree, you know? Maybe the snow got so piled up on a tree that its branches just couldn't hold it anymore and they broke under their own weight.

The house's pretty safe though because when we moved here, Mum commissioned a bunch of woodcutters to come down and clear our yard since it was absolutely covered in trees and near dangerous to walk in. It was always dark under the trees, even when the sun was up and there were no clouds, so Mum didn't like it at all when Dad went out each day to explore it. She always got cross at him whenever he returned with scratches and cuts all over his arms and legs with news that he had found a new "treasure" inside the woods—mostly ancient bottle caps or rusty pop cans. Junk, really, but he thought that every bit of garbage he dug up was the most amazing thing in the world, so it was hard to make him stop going.

I didn't mind it when he went in the woods. Not really. The only time I got upset with him was when he tried to bring me with hi